Please help me welcome author Stephen Zimmer to Full Moon Bites today for a character interview with Rayden Valkyrie! I am super excited as not only are we touring the Dark Sun Dawn Trilogy, it is being made into a show! You can see some movie images below and the teaser trailer for the TV Pilot!

An Interview of
Rayden Valkyrie

You have a very interesting fighting style, using both
sword and axe. Can you comment a little
about it?

Growing up, I first learned use of the sword among the
Gessa. I remember swinging it every day,
and how heavy it was for me at that age.

I used to play with a small ax during that time, and learned
to throw it on my own. I would try some of the strikes I learned with my sword
using the axe.

Then one day I tried using both of them, keeping the sword
in my right hand, and the axe in my left, and it felt very comfortable to
me. I sought out warriors to teach me
more about the uses of an axe and then began to train with both weapons.

The axe gave me some additional skills to use. With the axe,
I could throw it against enemies I could not reach, or I could use it to pull
away a shield and open up an enemy for a strike with my blade.

I do not use just my axe and sword. I train to use all of my
body as a weapon. My fists. My knees.
My forehead. My feet. I have traveled far and I have learned much
in the lands I have visited. A warrior
is always open to learning new skills.
But training is everything when it comes to being prepared for fighting.

What does it take to stand alone?

It is a matter of strength of mind and willpower. You must be confident enough in what you
stand for to realize that there may be times where everyone around you is
wrong, and you are the only one who can stand for what is right. That is not an easy situation to find
yourself in, but if you know yourself, and what you stand for, you will find
that you can take a stand, regardless of who stands at your side.

You have a love of animals. What drives your compassion for them?

Animals are living beings who share the world we live
in. Those who are cruel to animals
merely reveal the darkness that abides in them.
I have found that it is possible to find a bond with some animals,
including more than one dog and cat that grew up with me. In the world I live in, the furs of some are
needed to keep warm, and some are needed for food, but I never hunt without
true need.

Why is it important to think independently?

It is of the greatest importance to think for yourself. Great sorcerers, kings and emperors alike
have used their power to corral multitudes, and make them fear to question the
path they are set upon. This is why the
sons and daughters of those with riches live, and the sons and daughters of
those without riches are sent to die in distant lands. Many thousands have seen their homelands
destroyed, and their families shattered, because they feared to think for
themselves. If the majority of the people decided to think for themselves, they
could pull the power away from tyrants in a single day.

If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?

I would find my way home, which is a place that I fear I can
never reach. It is a place where the
smile still shines on my mother's face, and where I can still hear the rumble
of my father's laughter. I go far and
wide in this world, but I have found no path yet to that home.

What is your favorite food and drink?

Meat and mead of course!
A plate of roast boar and a cup filled to the brim with mead or good ale
brings a smile to my face, and nothing tastes better at the end of a long day
of travel.

What is your favorite folklore?

I have always enjoyed the stories where spirits of loved
ones come back to visit those left behind.
Many times I have found this in the tales of the little ones who reside
in the depths of the forests, the faeries and other creatures who embrace the
things of magic. As a child adopted by
the Gessa, these tales pulled at my heart, as they kindled the flame of a hope
I still continue to harbor deep inside me.

What tends to be the last thing on your mind when you go to sleep at night?

I find myself thinking of a better world, one without the
cruelties and brutality found all across the one I live in every day. But to fall asleep, I empty my mind of cares
and concerns, and I let myself drift into the realm of dreams. There, I often find peace.

Thunder Horizon

Book Synopsis: A deadly menace stalks the shadows of the lands to the north,
stirring the winds of war. Farther south, the power of the Teveren Empire
spreads with every passing day, empowered by dark sorcery. Formidable legions
bent on conquest are on the march, slavery and subjugation following in their
wake.

Within the rising maelstrom, Rayden Valkyrie
has returned to the Gessa, to stand with the tribe that once took her into
their care as a child. No amount of jewels or coin can sway her, nor can the
great power of her adversaries intimidate her.

With a sword blade in her right hand and axe in
her left, Rayden confronts foes both supernatural and of flesh and blood.
Horrific revelations and tremendous risks loom; some that will see Rayden's
survival in the gravest of peril.

Even if Rayden and the Gessa survive the trials
plaguing their lands, the thunder of an even darker storm booms across the far
horizon.

Thunder Horizon is the
second book in the Dark Sun Dawn Trilogy.

Heart of a Lion

Book
Synopsis: Rayden Valkyrie. She walks alone, serving no
king, emperor, or master. Forged in the fires of tragedy, she has no place she
truly calls home.

A deadly warrior wielding both blade and axe,
Rayden is the bane of the wicked and corrupt. To many others, she is the most
loyal and dedicated of friends, an ally who is unyielding in the most dangerous
of circumstances.

The people of the far southern lands she has just
aided claim that she has the heart of a lion. For Rayden, a long journey to the
lands of the far northern tribes who adopted her as a child beckons, with an
ocean lying in between.

Her path will lead her once more into the center of
a maelstrom, one involving a rising empire that is said to be making use of the
darkest kinds of sorcery to grow its power. Making new friends and discoveries
amid tremendous peril, Rayden makes her way to the north.

Monstrous beasts, supernatural powers, and the
bloody specter of war have been a part of her world for a long time and this
journey will be no different. Rayden chooses the battles that she will fight,
whether she takes up the cause of one individual or an entire people.

Both friends and enemies alike will swiftly learn
that the people of the far southern lands spoke truly. Rayden Valkyrie has the
heart of a lion.

About the author:

Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning author and filmmaker based out of Lexington Kentucky. His works include the Rayden Valkyrie novels (Sword and Sorcery), the Rising Dawn Saga (Cross Genre), the Fires in Eden Series (Epic Fantasy), the Hellscapes short story collections (Horror), the Chronicles of Ave short story collections (Fantasy), and the Harvey and Solomon Tales (Steampunk).

Stephen’s visual work includes the feature film Shadows Light, shorts films such as The Sirens and Swordbearer, and the forthcoming Rayden Valkyrie: Saga of a Lionheart TV Pilot. Stephen is a
proud Kentucky Colonel who also enjoys the realms of music, martial arts, good
bourbons, and spending time with family.

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